Three ex-CMs fight last battle

Three former Chief Ministers of Punjab are perhaps fighting their last electoral battle this time. At 94 years, Parkash Singh Badal shall be the oldest front ranking political leader who has entered the fray, from his traditional Lambi constituency on the Shiromani Akali Dal ticket, while Captain Amarinder Singh contesting on the symbol of his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress, is a candidate from Patiala Urban. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the only woman to have occupied the coveted position in the border state, is the Congress nominee from the Lehragaga Assembly segment.
The former CMs, who have a combined political experience of over 150 years, are hopeful that they shall sail through, largely because people whom they have served for such a long period, would support them for the final time.
The Punjab Assembly elections are likely to be a cliff hanger, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of others so far as perception goes, though the reality would only be known when the final results are declared on 10 March. The Congress, which is confident of stopping the AAP in Southern Punjab, has hurt its own chances because of massive infighting.
The Shiromani Akali Dal has slowly but steadily consolidated its position and is back in the contest as a major player, though without its previous ally, the BJP, the SAD would be at a disadvantage in many places. The BJP has overcome the initial opposition to it in the rural areas and believes that it shall neutralise many more challenges in the closely fought elections, where victory margins may be very narrow.
The saffron brigade would be more comfortable if no party gets a majority of its own and the outcome leads to a hung house. This would be indeed a tailor-made situation where the Centre can administer the border region through President’s Rule.
There is another side to the elections as well, which is about Rajya Sabha. At least half a dozen seats of the Upper House are going to fall vacant in the immediate future, and parties that have the numbers can send nominees of their choice to the Council of States. Partap Singh Bajwa, who is retiring from the Rajya Sabha, is the Congress candidate from Qadian and wants to return to state politics in order to stake his claim for the Chief Ministership at some stage.
Top Congress leader, Ambika Soni too shall cease to be a member of the august house unless the party high command decides to renominate her. She is probably the senior most member of the current Parliament; she was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1976 in a byelection, when Giani Zail Singh was the Chief Minister.
The Congress has suffered many setbacks in the run-up to the polls, where it was expected to coast to victory. Severe infighting amongst leaders and irresponsible political statements by many of its functionaries could impact the outcome. In the midst of all this confusion, former Union Law Minister, Ashwani Kumar has quit the party citing reasons which reflect poorly on the top leadership.
Ashwani was a two-time member of Rajya Sabha and belongs to an old political family; his father, the late Prabodh Chandra, was the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly and also a political opponent of Pratap Singh Kairon, decidedly one of the most distinguished Chief Ministers of the state before it was re-organised in 1966, leading to the formation of both Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Ashwani has predicted an AAP victory in the ongoing polls.
Although the momentum appears to be in favour of the AAP, yet political analysts are not convinced that it shall displace the Congress as the ruling party in 2022. The political logic being cited is that if AAP were to come to power, Arvind Kejriwal, an astute politician, would not have declared Bhagwant Mann as the Chief Ministerial candidate. It is being stated that Kejriwal would never permit anyone to acquire a stature bigger than his own in the AAP; the CM of Punjab is certainly more significant in terms of power than the CM of Delhi where there is a “C” grade assembly and a truncated government, which has to, many times play second fiddle to the Centre.
The parties opposed to Kejriwal have started their own kind of propaganda wherein they have urged people not to vote for someone who wants the state to share its water with Haryana and Delhi. This is with reference to the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal issue, which has wide support from Haryana, Kejriwal’s home state and Delhi, his karam bhoomi.
The BJP and Akalis are openly campaigning against the AAP and their key point is that while the Sikh Gurus had given the Holy Kirpan in the hands of the Sikhs, Kejriwal was seeking to replace it with the Jharu, the AAP election symbol.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is making a last-minute pitch by appealing to Punjabi chauvinism, where only Punjabis should rule the state and not “outsiders”, a clear attack to highlight Kejriwal’s roots. The AAP draws its strength mostly from the Malwa region where the war cry like the rest of the state favours change in the political narrative.
Punjab has never witnessed such a multi-angular contest in its history and hopefully a fractured verdict should not weaken its political standing. It is foremost in the interest of the country and the state, that the winner gets a majority. Between us.